ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona faculty members Brian Onishi, associate professor of philosophy, and Jeff Stoyanoff, associate professor of English and of women's, gender and sexuality studies, have released a new episode of their "Horror Joy" podcast. In the latest “Meet Your Maker” episode, Onishi reunites with author Brianna N. Cox to discuss her March release, “Indigent,” after earlier conversations about “Sinners” and Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory.”
Cox frames horror as a genre of empathy and connection that makes taboo fears communal and cathartic, and she compares horror and romance as “go big or go home” forms driven by intense emotion and physicality. She explains “Indigent” as a “worm vampire” novel that invokes vampire tropes without explicit vampirism, using cannibalistic, vampire-adjacent monsters to explore consumption, addiction and late-stage capitalism among impoverished characters.
The title references “medically indigent” patients and foregrounds U.S. healthcare trauma and distrust across a diverse ensemble cast. Cox argues horror is inherently political, shaped by social anxieties, and discusses double standards around AI controversies. She also highlights Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) Vampire Day charity work.
You can access the full episodes of "Horror Joy" on podcast providers or on Red Circle.